Thanks!! She does seem to enjoy all that "freedom"!! I, on the other hand, still cannot believe that I did it. It all started when .... I have been extremely busy lately and it had been a couple of days since I had time to take her topknot down and brush it. The last time I did it, I was in a rush and didn't get it quite tight enough and there was a bit of movement in it ... ladies, get where I'm going??? When I took the bands out and began trying to brush the tangles out, I discovered that the loosly banded topknot, coupled with the back & forth motion every time she moved her little head had made one giant matt on top of her head!! You really couldn't tell it was like that until the bands were removed. Bear in mind that this sweet, precious soul never, ever resists anything I want to do to her ... even lying patiently on her back while I clip her nails, trim her pad hair, etc. She has lain there for 30-45 minutes for me before. I brushed for quite a while and only had a small portion of the hair untangled ... she patiently laid in my lap. The skin on top of her head was already turning red and I looked at her and thought it must be hurting and yet she never complained!!
I just couldn't do it anymore, so I sat there and just looked at her for about 30 minutes and decided to cut it off rather than put her through all it would take to pick all those tangles out [her hair is cottony]. The hair was about 8-10" long and was soooo cute in a little pigtail but her comfort means more to me than everyone thinking how cute she looks! I just didn't realize that until I looked into those big brown, patient eyes. I just love her more than anything and perhaps we may grow another topknot .... perhaps we won't. For now we are just going to enjoy the freedom of quicker, uncomplicated baths and scratching that little bald head!!!!